felhom.eu/documentation/audits/E2D-fresh-vm-2026-07-29.md

# E2D-fresh-vm-2026-07-29 — E-2 proven on a fresh box: C1/C2 pass, C3/C4 partial, C5 FAILS

**Run:** `RUNBOOK-e2d-fresh-vm-2026-07-29.md`, executed by CC on DooPlex, 2026-07-29.
**Preceded by:** a Phase 0 STOP earlier the same day (R-111 — the Day-0 channel was 17 agent releases
stale). R-111 was fixed first; this run then proceeded on the real customer path.

**Headline:** the installer and its Case B are proven on a real install. **The two customer-facing
halves of E-2 are not reachable by a customer at all**, and the drive-absent alarm **cannot fire on
device loss**. Both were invisible to a green unit suite and to an API-level check; only the live run
found them.

| Claim | Verdict |
|---|---|
| **C1** host-install 1.22.0 completes a real install, rc=0 | ✅ **PROVEN** |
| **C2** Case B fires naturally on a single-drive box | ✅ **PROVEN** |
| **C3** the degraded banner renders **to a customer** | ⚠️ **PARTIAL — API exact, NO UI CONSUMER** (R-112) |
| **C4** the offer appears and moves the target when accepted | ⚠️ **PARTIAL — full API flow proven; offer equally invisible** (R-112) |
| **C5** `backup_target_absent` fires end to end | ❌ **FAILED** — no event on any channel (R-113) |

---

## 1. Baselines as actually confirmed

| Artifact | Confirmed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| hub | 0.81.0 | `manifests/hub.yaml:128`; live deploy image |
| agent | 0.113.0 | `main` @ `58b598b`; **published this run**, sha `5f3247f7…` |
| golden | **0.185.1** | baked this run, sha `dba00f3e…`, embeds controller 0.185.1 |
| controller | 0.185.1 | `main` @ `cdaeb36`; live in the guest |
| host-install | 1.22.0 | `scripts/felhom-host-install.sh:187`; fetched from the website at run time |
| felhom.eu | `3dff357` | `main` HEAD at run time |

**Route: ISO/PAIRING (the real customer chain).** ISO
`felhom-pve-9.2-1-v1.25.0-nested-vm-generic-mkimage.iso`. Every C1–C5 result is on the real route; no
manual-installer fallback was used.

**Operator STOP: not required and now retired.** `HUB_PW` is in `~/.config/credentials`; CC created
the customer and performed the bind itself. The one human step that *was* needed is new — see §6.

## 2. Timeline (VM 9300 `e2d-fresh` on demo-hp, nested PVE)

| UTC | Event |
|---|---|
| 10:29 | VM created — q35/OVMF SB-off, 4c/8G, **one** 160 G disk, `hotplug disk`, outside the `felhom` pool |
| 10:34:52 | PVE auto-install done, first boot, DHCP `192.168.0.125` (no R-59 gate trip) |
| 10:34:53 | registered as unclaimed appliance, pairing code `SB4-7ZK`, console banner rendered |
| 10:36:52 | **bound** to customer `e2d-fresh` by CC; credentials delivered 2 s later |
| 10:37:31 | host enrolled `e2d-fresh-ac9f09`; break-glass root credential vaulted |
| 10:37:33 | **artifact manifest served: agent=0.113.0 golden=0.185.1** |
| 10:40:27 | `controller_started (0.185.1)` — **bind → running controller in 3 m 35 s** |
| 10:56 | second 100 G disk hot-attached; wizard init→mount→register |
| 10:57:08 | offer accepted → `restart_required:true`; agent restarted at 10:57:36 |
| 10:58:37 | target drive **hot-detached** (volume survives as `unused0`) |
| 10:58:37–11:03 | **no event on any channel** for 4½ minutes (budget was 60 s) |
| 11:03:31 | reattached; state returns healthy; **still no event** |

## 3. C1 — PROVEN

From the `felhom-bootstrap.service` journal on the box:

```
felhom-bootstrap: fetching host-install: https://felhom.eu/scripts/felhom-host-install.sh
[INFO] felhom-host-install v1.22.0 — mode=appliance customer=e2d-fresh vmid=9201
...
[OK]   controller: Up 21 seconds (healthy)
[INFO]   controller image: gitea.dooplex.hu/admin/felhom-controller:0.185.1
[OK] Day-0 provision SUCCESS — vmid=9201 host_id=e2d-fresh-ac9f09 customer=e2d-fresh
     golden=local:backup/vzdump-lxc-9100-2026_07_29-12_37_56.tar.zst
felhom-bootstrap: host-install SUCCESS — writing done-flag, disabling unit, scrubbing secrets
```

rc=0 is corroborated structurally: the unit wrote its done-flag, **self-disabled**, and
`Deactivated successfully`. `pct list` showed guest **9201 `e2d-fresh` running**.

**The publish train is proven end to end:** the golden restored is
`vzdump-lxc-9100-2026_07_29-12_37_56` — the golden baked ~20 minutes earlier in the same session.
This retires E-2's *"installer-logic-tested, not install-tested"*.

## 4. C2 — PROVEN

Both required warning lines, verbatim, ANSI-stripped:

```
[WARN]   backup target: DEGRADED — no eligible second drive, so the whole-system backup stays on the SYSTEM drive.
[WARN]   It protects against file corruption but NOT against a disk failure. Attach a second drive and assign it in the dashboard.
```

- `agent.json` → `backup.local_backup_target = 'local'` (the "resolved local" observable)
- no `felhom-backup` storage created at install
- **the install did not abort** — a single-drive appliance is a valid product

## 5. THE FINDINGS

### 5.1 R-112 — the degraded banner and the offer have NO UI consumer (customer-invisible)

The endpoint is **correct**. Authenticated `GET /api/storage/backup-target` returned, exactly:

```json
{"degraded":true,"known":true,"target":"local",
 "message":"A rendszermentés jelenleg ugyanazon a lemezen van, mint a rendszer — így hibás fájlok
            ellen véd, lemezhiba ellen nem. Csatlakoztass egy második meghajtót a teljes védelemhez."}
```

byte-identical to the runbook's required copy. `known` is a field **separate** from `degraded`, so
UNKNOWN genuinely cannot render as degraded (R-88 Part 2's lesson held).

**And nothing in the product ever asks for it.** Negative claims with their search scope:

| Search | Result |
|---|---|
| `grep -rn 'backup-target' --include='*.html' --include='*.js' --include='*.css' controller/` | **0 hits** |
| `grep -rn 'kijelölheted\|ugyanazon a lemezen\|OfferPath\|OfferLabel\|Degraded' controller/internal/web/templates/` | **0 hits** |
| consumers of `backupTargetDegradedText` / `backupTargetOfferText` | only `degradedMessageFor` (`:136`) and the JSON handler (`:153`) — both inside `backup_target_offer.go` |
| consumers of `resolveBackupTargetState` / `degradedMessageFor` across all Go | **only** the API handler. **No page handler injects the state.** |

**The decisive contrast:** the templates fetch **18 distinct `/api/storage/*` endpoints`**.
`backup-target` and `backup-target/assign` are the **only two** referenced by zero templates.

The handler's own doc comment reads *"serves GET /api/storage/backup-target — **the dashboard's source
for the degraded banner and the offer**"* — an invariant comment asserting a consumer that does not
exist (`CLAUDE.md`'s "a comment asserting an invariant needs a test pinning it, or it is a wish",
instance #7). And v0.185.1's own test, `TestBackupTargetRoutesLiveUnderTheStorageAPIMount`, pins that
the **router dispatches** the path — not that anything renders it. v0.185.1 shipped as *"the offer
endpoints were mounted where nothing routed to them"*: it fixed the mount and stopped one layer short.

**Fifth instance of the seam-built-but-never-wired class.** `CLAUDE.md`'s seam rule names exactly this:
*"a feature is not shipped until its entry point is reachable… handler tests that POST directly prove
nothing about reachability."*

### 5.2 R-113 — the drive-absent gate CANNOT fire on device loss (E-2b's alarm is unreachable)

Detached the assigned target drive at 10:58:37Z under a running agent. Over the next 4½ minutes:

- **agent**, every 20 s: `storage: enrolled drive absent by UUID — not re-asserting` /
  `reconcile: enrolled drive not present (durable-id absent) — skipping` — **the agent knows**
- **controller**: `docker logs | grep -c '\[gate\]'` → **0**. The gate never acted, ABSENT or RETURNED
- **hub**: zero events for the customer across the whole window — no `backup_target_absent`,
  **and no generic `storage_disconnected` either**

**Root cause, established at source and confirmed live.** `planDriveGates`
(`intermediary.go:216-262`) computes presence as
`present[GuestPath] = present[GuestPath] || d.BoundUnderParent`, and the agent derives
`BoundUnderParent` from `GuestSeesMount()` — *"does the guest's `/proc/<pid>/mountinfo` list this path
as a mount target"* (`localapi/disks.go:210`, `localapi/intermediary.go` `GuestSeesMount`).

Measured on the box with the device removed:

```
-- raw mount /mnt/mentes2 --                NOT mounted          <- systemd device-bound unit, died with the device
-- stable bind /mnt/felhom-drives/mentes2 -- /dev/sdb[/felhom-data] ext4   <- the agent's MANUAL bind, SURVIVES
```

The raw mount is a device-bound systemd unit and dies correctly; **the agent's own bind under the
shared parent is not device-bound, so its mountinfo entry outlives the device.** The gate reads that
surviving entry as "present" ⇒ `!present[...]` is never true ⇒ no `Stop` action ⇒ `notifyDriveAbsent`
is never called.

This is not a virtualisation artefact: the asymmetry is between a device-bound mount and a manual
bind, which is identical on physical hardware. **Caveat kept honest:** proven on a SCSI hot-detach; a
physical USB unplug was not staged.

**Consequence.** E-2b's celebrated fix — *"THE SEAM THAT WAS NEVER WIRED… a drive that is ONLY a
backup target has no apps to stop, so it was silent twice over"* (`intermediary.go:288-296`) — wired
the notify to a branch that **cannot execute on device loss**. The seam is wired; the condition is
unreachable. Sixth instance of the class, one layer deeper than the fifth.

**Mirror scenario:** not separately staged, and it does not need to be — both the specific and the
generic event are emitted from the same `a.Stop` branch, which never executed. The generic
`storage_disconnected` is equally unreachable by this path. Recorded as *reasoned, not observed*.

### 5.3 R-114 — on target-drive loss the customer is told the wrong story and offered the missing drive

While the target drive was absent, the endpoint returned:

```json
{"degraded":true,"target":"felhom-backup",
 "message":"A rendszermentés jelenleg ugyanazon a lemezen van, mint a rendszer …",
 "offer_path":"/mnt/felhom-drives/mentes2","offer_label":"Mentés meghajtó"}
```

Two defects in one payload: the message claims the backup is **on the system disk**, which is false —
the target is `felhom-backup` on a drive that has vanished; and the remedy offered is **the drive that
just disappeared**. `resolveBackupTargetState` falls through to the generic degraded branch whenever no
disk satisfies `d.BackupTarget && d.MountPath != ""`, without distinguishing *never configured* from
*configured and now missing*.

**Interaction worth stating: R-114 is currently invisible only because of R-112.** Fixing R-112 alone —
wiring the banner — would immediately start showing customers this wrong message. **They must be fixed
together, R-114 first.**

**Also observed:** after reattach the drive returned as `/dev/sdc`, while the stable bind still
recorded `/dev/sdb[/felhom-data]`. The state read healthy (`degraded:false`) with the guest-visible
bind still naming the dead device node. Not chased further; recorded as part of R-113's shape.

### 5.4 Smaller findings (recorded, not filed as their own IDs)

1. **A "hard min" that only warns.** `[WARN] local-lvm free ~83 GiB < hard min 120 GiB` — the installer
   names a hard minimum and proceeds. Either it is not hard, or the wording is wrong.
2. **`felhom-backup-target-apply` is fetched unvouched.** host-install pulls **nine** files from
   `raw/branch/main` (`:2072`–`:2206`); the hub manifest vouches a sha for exactly one
   (`wrapper_sha256` → `felhom-pbs-apply`, verified this run: no drift). E-2a's wrapper is installed
   **0755 to `/usr/local/sbin` and root-fenced in sudoers**, validated only by `bash -n`.
   **Filed as a second instance under R-110**, not a new ID — same class (a root-executed artifact
   taken from `main` with no pinned integrity).

## 6. C4 — what IS proven (API level)

Everything except customer reachability:

- **The offer** appeared with all three fields: `offer_path=/mnt/felhom-drives/mentes2`,
  `offer_label=Mentés meghajtó`, `offer_message=Ezt a meghajtót kijelölheted a rendszermentés helyéül…`
- **The decline path (§6.4) — PROVEN.** After registering the drive and *not* accepting:
  `target` still `local`, no `felhom-backup` storage, `agent.json` unchanged. **Registration does not
  confer a role** — E-2 §3's central invariant, live.
- **Accept** → `{"assigned":"/mnt/felhom-drives/mentes2","restart_required":true}`
- **The agent did NOT self-restart** — `ActiveEnterTimestamp` unchanged at 12:37:53 CEST twenty
  minutes later. **In-flight check performed and recorded before restarting:** 0 running PVE tasks,
  no `vzdump` process, 0 backup lines in the agent journal.
- **The E-2a root-fenced wrapper worked on a fresh box:** created `dir: felhom-backup`,
  `path /mnt/mentes2`, `is_mountpoint 1` — the drive's **own** mountpoint (law F-2).
- **Healthy renders nothing:** after the restart the payload is
  `{"degraded":false,"known":true,"label":"Mentés meghajtó","target":"felhom-backup"}` — **no
  `message` field at all**. No "backup protected" reassurance (E-2 Scenario E).

## 7. E-2d's own premise needs amending

The runbook assumed a fresh install yields a claimable customer CC can then drive. It does not:
**the claim code is bcrypt-hashed in the hub and only ever emailed** (`claim/engine.go:58-95`), and the
gate covers everything except `/claim`, `/claim/request-new-code`, `/api/health`, `/static/`
(`claim.go:222-229`). C3/C4/C5 all sit behind it. This run cleared it by registering an operator email,
resending, and having the operator relay the code — **the one genuine human step**, and it also proved
the claim flow end to end (code → password → `401 "dashboard not yet claimed"` becoming
`401 "authentication required"`, a positive discriminator).

## 8. Teardown

- VM 9300 destroyed `--purge`; `e2d-images` storage removed; scratch dir removed.
- **`pvesm status` after == before**: `local-lvm` **38.77 %**, `felhom-backup` 931059224 KiB available
  — byte-identical to the pre-run measurement. Freed space returned.
- **Guest 9201 (live customer) untouched and running; `drill-r50` VM 300 untouched.**
- Drill VM (golden bake) torn down per GL-1 earlier: guest 9100 purged, secrets shredded, disk restored
  to `virgin`, token-leak grep 0.

**Hub records NOT yet removed — stated, not silent.** `e2d-fresh` + host `e2d-fresh-ac9f09` remain.
The delete was attempted and **correctly refused** at four successive gates: acknowledgements → typed
`confirm_id` → `expect_hosts` stale-preview → finally `host e2d-fresh-ac9f09 is ONLINE`. The host is
online only because its last report is recent; the VM is destroyed, so it ages OK → WARN (30 m) → DOWN
(>1 h) and is then deletable. **Cleanup command, once it reads DOWN:**

```
POST /configs/e2d-fresh/delete  ack_hosts=1 ack_reset=1 ack_purge=1 confirm_id=e2d-fresh expect_hosts=1
```

Tracked in `OPEN-ITEMS.md`. Deleting rather than keeping is deliberate — R-93 records what a
half-real fixture costs.

**Also still present:** the stale unclaimed appliance from 2026-07-25 (`206c8838…`, code `QWA-WJE`).
Not mine; not discarded. A future run must distinguish its own appliance from it.